Sun, Aug 17, 2014

Rich Hill

Area Premiere August 15–18

Winner, Best Documentary – Sundance Film Festival 2014

(2014) dir Andrew Droz Palermo, Tracy Droz Tragos [91 min; DCP]
Filmmaking cousins Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo embark upon an immersive and dazzlingly cinematic journey into the lives of Andrew, Harley, and Appachey, three boys living in the impoverished small town of Rich Hill, Missouri. Despite the isolation and deprivation of their individual circumstances, they long for the same things we all want: a nice house, dinner on the table, and a healthy, loving family. Droz Tragos and Droz Palermo’s intimate connection to their subjects serves as a window into a too-often bleak environment, where simply getting by is considered a success, but the hope for a normal life and a brighter future persists. – Adapted from notes for the Sundance Film Festival

Official Selection, Independent Film Festival of Boston, 2014

★★★½ “‘Rich Hill’ might fairly be called ‘Boyhood: The Documentary,’ and, not surprisingly, it offers a reality harsher than — if just as compassionate as — Richard Linklater’s dreamy time-lapse drama.” – Ty Burr, Boston Globe